Mr. Muhamed Muneer

We all know these times are tough. You know what that means for your business. And advertising agencies, being further down the food chain, are feeling the pinch probably even more profoundly.

Having worked on both sides of the fence, here are a few tips I have picked up that you can apply to your situation to ensure you are getting the most from your agency - in good times and bad. These tips are very
useful for small and medium businesses.

* Take your account team to lunch. If the only time you talk with the agency people working your account is in
presentations or when there is a question on billing, you could be missing out on a great resource. Get them
out of the corporate environment (yours and theirs) for an informal bull session. Make sure you invite the account coordinators and account executives as well as account managers.

Let us face it, they are the ones doing the bulk of the work. Ask them how they really feel about the direction things are going. Formalities aside, ask them to honestly tell you how they would improve things.

* Take your creative team to lunch. Too often, the creatives working your business become invisible. Meet them for lunch too. Just the creatives. They have keen insights into your business because they spend a lot of time looking at it from every conceivable angle. Find out how much time they are actually spending on your account. (The time they are spending can easily differ - in both directions - from the billable hours you actually see under creative design charges wherever these are based on hours basis. But I have not come across any Indian agency doing this. Most of them put down arbitrary figures depending on the target for the month or quarter.)

Are they frustrated they don't get enough time to work on your business? Are they spending a lot more time than you have initially assumed? Either way, it is important to know. Make sure they are getting enough input. If they are not in your initial meetings with the account team when you are discussing a new campaign or a new project, they should be. Client input always becomes weaker further down the line, never stronger.

* Stop. Look. Listen. Call a time-out and assess your situation. Often we get too caught up in putting out fires or simply too paralysed by the day-to-day routine to really look ahead, not to mention to the side and behind us. Gather the people working on your account. Put all the communication they have done for you in the past six months up on the wall. Then put up everything you can find on the competition.

What do you see? Where are the similarities? Where are the differences you can exploit, or the holes you can fill? And most importantly, are you proud of what you see representing your company? Ask agency people for their honest opinions. Listen to their answers.

* Avoid the empty-suit syndrome. Sort of an adjunct to the first point; you can even do it at the same lunch. Ask them questions about your business and your industry. How much do they really know about it? Try to separate the wheat from the chaff here. Listen for original insights. If you don't hear any, you have got a legitimate gripe.

* Insist on accountability. In everything. Period.

* Insist on continuity of personnel. Having worked out on accounts for very short periods and for longer periods,
I can tell you longer is generally better. It takes a while to really know a product; longer still to know the competitive environment and history. Plus, there is a certain synergy that occurs after working with a client on a continuing basis. You develop a respect and trust for one another. And good advertising is built on risk and trust.

* Track results. I am always surprised at the number of people who do not do this, and the resistance the idea
can receive from both agency and client. Establish a benchmark. Then track results. They can be empirical, like sales figures, or perceptions, which are equally important for brand image and continued success.

If you can't figure out a way to do it, that's okay. Let the agency find a way; it is in its best interest. Most creative people welcome truly reliable tracking of how their ads are doing. If something is not working, they will want to know. If something risky that they believed in and sold through is working, they would definitely want to know.

* Hold a review. Contrary to popular myth, reviews don't have to be confrontational ordeals. If you can afford the
time and have not held an agency review for a while, consider it. It is your responsibility to make sure you are getting the best thinking for your money.

By holding a review, you will become acquainted with more agencies, more people, and more ways of thinking. If your agency people are confident they are doing their utmost, they have got nothing to worry about. Yes, it is
a pain for them. But chances are that out of the extra work will come some innovative ways of helping you
achieve your goals.

Remember that honesty is critical in assessing the success of your agency, as well as your advertising. Don't ever hold a grudge for an honest opinion. It is there to help you.

(By arrangement with Innovative Media)

Feedback and queries may be e-mailed to him directly at muneermuhamed@hotmail.com